Fans get crazy for Hot Chelle Rae and Allstar Weekend at Pacific

Costa Mesa fans Gretchen, Bridget and Bailey pose for a photo before seeing Hot Chelle Rae at Pacific Amphitheatre on Thursday. KELLY A. SWIFT, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The cotton candy of this year’s OC Fair concert lineup, teen-beat bands Hot Chelle Rae and Allstar Weekend, didn’t disappoint a near-capacity and unexpectedly diverse crowd Thursday night at Pacific Ampitheatre. Scattered tweens and teens in homemade T-shirts, along with their chaperones and a sizable gathering of college-age-and-older Top 40 fans, remained on their feet throughout the show.

Both bands earned equitable ear-piercing screams and fist-pounding enthusiasm, yet surprisingly Allstar Weekend, which opened, garnered more audience singalong. This Section 2 seat-filler also found their showmanship more engaging and their 12-song set much more palpable than that of main act Hot Chellae Rae, although that group came off more polished.

Poway-bred Allstar Weekend consists of five pairs of skinny jeans who have Radio Disney to credit for their rise to stardom. Band members have shifted since their 2008 launch, after appearing as Disney’s NBT (Next Big Thing), but current staples Zachary Porter (lead vocals), Cameron Quiseng (bass, vocals) and Michael Martinez (drums, vocals) were joined by Dillon Anderson (keyboard, backing vocals) and Brent Schneiders (lead guitar, backing vocals) for the Costa Mesa stop on their Summer of Love Tour.

Their electric youth no doubt meant a visible side-stage youngster was more likely a little brother than a band member’s son, but such effervescence also instilled their act with a leap across the lily pads of stage speakers, gaining momentum throughout hits like “Mr. Wonderful” and “Not Your Birthday.”

Pretty-boy Porter exuded an iridescent charm and nice tone on the mic – and all right, he's got great hair. The twinkle in his eye and genuine “look at me living the dream” grin cast him as the one to watch, though Quiseng certainly beckoned his share of love when shedding an outer layer and breaking into rap with skilled beat-machine Martinez for "Cat City Trick" and "Orangutan." Porter joined them – not with his microphone but with moves – for the beat-boxing double header, and together they danced like they were the centerpiece of a high school prom. Which they probably were not too long ago.

Bottom line: They exhibited that refreshing quality of rising bands called we’re having fun. Based on Thursday’s performance, they’ve got the requisite chops and screaming girls to serve as their rails as they continue to escalate with a third album set for release in January.

In contrast, Hot Chelle Rae initially seemed less connected as they took the stage, though their arrival demanded earplugs, as a loyal army of Forever 21’ers screamed along to opening song “Beautiful Freaks.”

The band quickly transitioned to their biggest hit, “Tonight Tonight,” spiced up by a nostalgic mid-course interjection of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme. Then they pivoted back to their Whatever album menu with another chorus-heavy, Auto-Tuned pop creation, which had the two avid singalong superfans behind me (who came all the way from Vancouver!) going gaga. But I imagine I wasn’t the only one eye-rolling for some originality when next a familiar electric strum cued a cover of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.”

His expression generally fluctuating between stoic and placid up to this point, lead vocalist Ryan Follesé finally delivered a much-needed ballad via “The Only One,” releasing some emotion and displaying a nice upper range. The conduit now opened, more personality emerged with a new song, “Wish,” and then a crowd-rousing “Radio,” in which Ryan gave his brother Jamie a strobe-enhanced, tambourine-accompanied moment on the drums. Throughout the night, baby-faced Jamie bowed his head to the frontman, probably thanking his lucky stars he’d done his part to keep their room clean as kids.

The Nashville band also includes backing vocals from lead guitarist Nash Overstreet and bassist Ian Keaggy, who both did their part strumming and subtly engaging fans near the stage. Demi Lovato didn’t appear for her featured part in “Why Don’t You Love Me,” as surely many had hoped, but the brotherly love continued as Nash’s brother Chord Overstreet, of Glee fame, acted as a squeal-inducing, intermittent stagehand with a back-pocket mic.

By the ninth number, all walls were down and Ryan and Nash took a walk down Memory Lane, sharing their initial bond seven years ago: 1) they both liked songwriting, 2) they both hated emo music, and 3) they both didn’t care too much for each other. They herded these factors into an early humorous song dubbed “Emo,” which they performed with the guided echo of the amphitheater audience.

After that, an armada of arms waved cell phones along to Hot Chelle Rae’s early “cornerstone” song “Bleed,” followed by the three-fingered “Whatever” and “Forever Unstoppable.” In the break-up vengeance anthem “Honestly,” the singing Follesé allowed an honest moment and broke into a sweet-life grin mid-lyric, taking a picture of his face with the crowd as backdrop. Then the concluding main-set number ushered four trembling teen girls with “swagger” on stage to sing/rap along to “I Like It Like That.”

But after the standard keep-standing ovation, it was back to the safety zone with a baffling encore choice, yet another round of “Tonight Tonight.” While Thursday night’s fans didn’t seem to mind, it’s this unoriginality that begs Hot Chelle Rae expand past the pop formula that has landed the group on the Billboard charts without securing them a resting place. Just how far they’re willing to stretch will determine whether they’re capable of pushing past the one-hit wonder moniker.

Allstar Weekend: Do It 2 Me / A Different Side of Me / Be There / Mr. Wonderful / Bend or Break / Come Down with Love / Not Your Birthday / Dance Forever / Cat City Trick / Orangutan / Life as We Know It / All the Way

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